Infant&#39;s shirt



E. A. SHERIDAN INFANTS SHIRT Nov. 19, 1940.

Y 2 Sheeks-Sheet 1 Filed July 18, 1938 INVENTOR ATTORNEY 1940. E. A. SHERIDAN INFANT s SHIRT Filed July 18, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 n QRAA A AAA nnnnn AKAKAR AAAAA AAAAA AAAAnn Anna AAAA AAAAAA AAAAA AAAAA AAAAAAA AAAA A AAAAA A AAAAAA An: AAnnn Anna Patented Nov. 19, 1940 UNITED STATES PATENT ()FFICE INFANTS SHIRT Rhode Island Application July 18, 1938, Serial No. 219,720

2 Claims.

My present invention relates to undergarments and, has particular reference to buttonles s shirts for infants.

The principal object of my invention is to provide a buttonless garment having novel shoulder and neck portions which are self adjusting and. fitting when the garment is pulled over the neck and shoulders of the wearer.

Another object of my invention is to provide a garment which is simple in construction, and easy and economical to manufacture and to assemble.

A further object of my invention is to provide a garment of the type specified which can be manufactured with a minimum Waste of material.

With the above and other objects and advantageous features in View, my invention consists of a novel method of manufacture and assembly, and a novel arrangement of parts more fully disclosed in the detailed description following, in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and more specifically defined in the claims appended hereto.

In the drawings illustrating my invention,

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of a shirt embodying my invention;

Fig. 2 is a section taken along the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged detailed View of the shoulder portion;

Fig. 4 is a top plan View of the neck portion;

Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4, the neck portion being stretched;

Figs. 6 and 7 are plan views of the blanks for the main or body portion of the garment;

Fig. 8 is a plan view showing the blank for the sleeve of the garment;

Fig. 9 is a plan View of the blank for the top shoulder piece;

Fig. 10 is a plan view of the blank for the cooperating shoulder piece; and

Fig. 11 is a side view of the garment in partially assembled condition.

Referring to the drawings, the garment therein illustrated is an infants shirt or undershirt, for which garment the present invention has particular utility. The shirt comprises a main body portion 20 preferably formed of a tubular, knitted, fabric in which the wales 2| extend vertically, affording greater elasticity transversely of the garment. The bottom edge of the main body portion is suitably finished as by an elastic seaming 22.

Although the invention is described and illustrated as embodied in a childs or infants shirt, it is not limited to this particular use or to a particular type of shoulder supported garment, and may be applied to other types of garments and garments formed of other materials, including both outer and undergarments and those having lower attached portions, such as union underwear.

The upper front portion of the main body member 20 is cut out as at 23 to provide the front portion of the neck opening. The back of the main body portion is cut out similarly as at 24 to provide the rear of the neck opening. The cut-outs 23 and 24 may be shaped in any suitable manner such as a V-shape, but are preferably formed with the front portion out below the rear portion, as illustrated.

The portions of the garment extending over the shoulders and forming the shoulder straps which comprise the neck enclosure include a plurality of overlapping members, extensions, or

straplike elements 25 and 26. The element 25 extends from the upper part of the rear section of the main body portion 20, and the element 26 extends from the upper part of the front of the main body portion 20.

As illustrated in Figs. 1, 4, and 5, the shoulder portions 26 extend longitudinally from the front of the garment and are integral therewith. They are of sufiicient length to pass upwardly over the shoulders and rearwardly and downwardly toward the back.

Similarly, the shoulder portions 25 are associated with the upper rear portion of the garment and extend upwardly over the shoulders and forwardly and downwardly toward the front. However, the shoulder portions 25 are formed of two separate sections joined to the upper edge of the rear body portion of the garment, these sections being a top shoulder piece 21 which is so positioned that it will lie exactly on top of the shoulder of the wearer, and a triangular end piece 28 which is attached thereto and extends downwardly toward the front. The shoulder portions are so arranged that the integral one-piece extension 26, attached to the upper front of the body portion, extends across the shoulder of the wearer and the composite portion 25 extends over the portion 26 and across to the front of the garment.

Inasmuch as the wales 2! of the body portion of the garment extend vertically, the ridges or wales in the portion 26 also extend vertically across the shoulders. However, the shoulder pieces 2'! are so cut and positioned that the wales 29 extend at right angles to the wales of the main body portion, see Figs. 1 and 4. With this side view, Fig. 11.

Construction, it is evident that when the garment is stretched across the shoulders of the wearer, the portion of the fabric extending across the shoulders has more vertical resiliency and elasticity and will not press against the shoulders of the wearer, especially if it be a chubby infant.

The inner side edges of the shoulder portions 25 and 26 may be rounded, as at 30 and 3|, and are free and unattached to either side of the garment or to each other.

Referring to Figs. 6 to 11 of the drawings, the knitted fabric is usually taken off the machine in tubular form, to provide a blank 32 which is used for the main body portion of the garment, the wales 2| thereof running vertically. The blank is cut in the form shown in Fig. 6 and flattened at right angles to the position shown in Fig. 6 to the position shown in Fig. 7.

Fig. 8 shows the blank for the sleeves, the wales running lengthwise of sleeve. Fig. 9 shows the shoulder piece 21, with thewales running transversely thereof, and Fig. 10 shows the end shoulder piece 28 with the wales running vertically. In assembly, the piece 2'! is sewed to the rear edge 33 of the main body portion, and then the piece 28 is sewed to the piece 21 by suitable stitching to produce the assembly shown in the The addition of the shoulder pieces 21, 28 to the shortened, rear, upper portion of the main body portion makes the rear shoulder straps of the same height as the front shoulder straps. The front shoulder strap is then folded forwardly as shown in Fig. l and as shown by the dotted line in Fig. 11, and the rear shoulder strap is folded over the front shoulder strap as illustrated in Fig. 4. The sleeves are then sewed into the garment by stitching 34, which also holds the outer edges of the shoulder straps.

Referring now to Fig. 3, it is evident that the wales on the shoulder strap 21 are at right angles to the wales in the main body portion and in the end piece 28, and provide transverse resiliency to the portion of the shoulder strap extending across the top of the shoulder, thus fitting the garment to the wearer and relieving stresses and strains and chafing which might occur if the wearer is chubby or has broad shoulders.

As disclosed in Fig. 4, the shape of the neck portion and the natural resiliency of the knitted fabric retains the neck portion in closed position about the neck of the wearer. In order to take off or put on the garment, it is merely necessary to insert the hand in the neck portion and stretch the same. The overlapping construction of the shoulder portions permits the neck portion to readily expand to the position shown in Fig. 5 so that it can be easily slipped over the head of the wearer. When the parts are released, they will automatically return to the normal position as shown in Fig. 4, the wales on the shoulder portion 21 expanding to give a comfortable fit about the shoulders of the wearer.

The garment shown in Fig. 1 can be assembled and made by various methods, however, the use of the blanks shown in Figs. 6 to 11, prevents waste of material and facilitates quick and economical blanking and assembly, without overlapping and without Waste.

While I have described a specific embodiment of my invention, and a specific method for assembly, it is obvious that these are merely illustrative, and that changes in the size and shape of the parts, in the materials used, and in the method followed, may be made to suit the requirements for different garments, without departing from the spirit and the scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. An infants garment of tubular knitted fabric, comprising a tubular body, a pair of spaced front shoulder strap portions extending upwardly from the front of the body and having arcuate inner borders and straight outer borders and providing a low cut neck portion therebetween, the wales of said front portions being in the same direction as the Wales of the body, and a pair of spaced composite rear shoulder strap portions each consisting of a section extending upwardly from the rear of the body and providing a higher cut neck portion therebetween and having its wales in the same direction as the wales of the body, a shoulder piece having its wales at right angles to the wales of the section, and an end piece having its wales in the same direction as the wales of the section, the inner borders of the composite rear shoulder portions being arcuate and the outer borders straight, the shoulder portions overlapping the corresponding front portions, and sleeve portions seamed to the outer borders only of said shoulder portions.

2. A tubular blank for an infants garment, comprising a flattened tubular body, said body having one upper corner portion out transversely and having an outer arcuate cut to provide a high rear neck portion, generally rectangular shoulder pieces seamed to said transverse cut portions, and generally triangular end portions seamed to said shoulder pieces, the inner borders of the shoulder pieces and the end pieces being continuous to form composite rear shoulder strap portions, the wales of the body, the transverse cut portion, and the end pieces being aligned, and the wales of the shoulder pieces being perpendicular to the body wales, the other upper corner being cut arcuately at its outer border to form a lower front neck portion, the central portion being cut inwardly between the corner portions to provide sleeve borders.

EDWARD A. SHERIDAN. 

